Montague Modlyn

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Montague ("Monty") Modlyn (born 23 May 1921 in Lambeth – 6 May 1994), was a British journalist, best known as a radio / TV presenter. Modlyn worked on BBC radio and TV often as 'roving reporter'. On LBC radio he presented Monty Modlyn at Large.

Modlyn was the son of a tailor and left school at 14. He worked as a proof reader for the Daily Mail and then wrote for the South London Press and the Evening Standard. His first broadcast was Down Lambeth Way, a talks programme for Forces radio.

He cultivated an East End working-class image, together with a total lack of respect for the rich and famous. His classic interview in this vein was with Ugandan dictator Idi Amin Dada, who he asked ingenuously how many people he'd murdered. Amin responded "You very cheeky man!" Modlyn was, of course, delighted by that and adopted a theme song:

Oh pardon my cheek, and the way that I speak, but no matter where I go
To common or gentry, I speak element'ry In the only way I know